This pathetic culture of ours marches on with the news that Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres has been forced to apologize for a 17-year-old blackface skit.
Torres has already won the Golden Globe for her performance in I’m Still Here. After her Oscar nomination was announced last week, someone on the internet found a skit old enough to join the military from the Brazilian TV show Fantastico where she wore blackface.
So, in order to improve her Oscar chances, she issued a mewling apology to the left-wing fascists in the Motion Picture Academy who would otherwise use it against her.
“Almost twenty years ago, I appeared in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV show,” Torres said in her statement. “I am very sorry for this. I’m making this statement as it is important for me to address this swiftly to avoid further pain and confusion.
“At that time, despite the efforts of [b]lack movements and organizations, the awareness of the racist history and symbolism of blackface hadn’t yet entered the mainstream public consciousness in Brazil,” she added. “Thanks to better cultural understanding and important but incomplete achievements in this century, it’s very clear now in our country and everywhere that blackface is never acceptable.
“This is an important conversation we must continue to have with one another in order to prevent the normalization of racist practices then and now,” she continued. “As an artist and global citizen, and from my open heart, I remain attentive and committed to the pursuit of vital changes needed to live in a world free from inequality and racism.”
Hollywood is so morally upside-down it’s beyond parody. Here’s a woman forced to beg for forgiveness over nothing. Meanwhile, this year, a man stole one of the five rare Best Actress slots from a woman. Where’s the apology for that outrage? Where’s the apology for the patriarchy always winning? Where’s the apology to Pamela Anderson, Nicole Kidman, and the other actresses who lost that prestigious slot, that honor to a big, hulking guy in a dress?
I’m no fan of blackface, but I’m a huge fan of nuance and I understand the difference between demeaning a culture through blackface, insulting a culture, and using it so people laugh at the culture; and good-natured comedy.
Because I don’t speak Brazilian, I have no idea if this skit made fun of black people or the way white people treat black servants, but everyone loses when we apologize for comedy, especially 17-year-old comedy.
But this is what the fascist left demands: that you humiliate yourself to prove your fealty. And they especially like apologies that are not sincere because those are even more humiliating.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
